Question

Ive already been through about 30 different posts and changed how I handle this and it gets closer but still wont work.

I have a Custom Button control in a library, that I am using in Main application. The button displays, handles mouse overs and such, but the dependency property for the text, (or Icon but Ill get to that later) wont update. When I set up the Dependency property with a default value that the only value it displays, it wont display anyhting I set in the designer, or through code.

       public static readonly DependencyProperty FileTextProperty;
   //Constructor
       static FileButton()
       {
        DefaultStyleKeyProperty.OverrideMetadata(typeof(FileButton), new FrameworkPropertyMetadata(typeof(FileButton)));


        // Initialize dependency properties
        FileTextProperty = DependencyProperty.Register("FileText", typeof(string), typeof(FileButton),   new UIPropertyMetadata ("Default File Text")); 
        }

      /// <summary>
    /// The Filename text displayed by the button.
    /// </summary>
    [Description("The text displayed by the button."), Category("Common Properties")]
    public string FileText
    {
        get { return (string)GetValue(FileTextProperty); }
        set { SetValue(FileTextProperty, value); }
    }

here is the XAML (Somewhat abbreviated)

                    <Style x:Key="ButtonFocusVisual">
                        <Setter Property="Control.Template">
                            <Setter.Value>
                                <ControlTemplate>
                                    <Rectangle Margin="2" SnapsToDevicePixels="true" Stroke="{DynamicResource {x:Static SystemColors.ControlTextBrushKey}}" StrokeThickness="1" StrokeDashArray="1 2"/>
                                </ControlTemplate>
                            </Setter.Value>
                        </Setter>
                    </Style>

                    <Style x:Key="GradientStyle" TargetType="{x:Type Button}"> 
                        <Setter Property="FocusVisualStyle" Value="{StaticResource ButtonFocusVisual}"/>
                        <Setter Property="Background" Value="{StaticResource ButtonNormalBackground}"/>
                        <Setter Property="BorderBrush" Value="{StaticResource ButtonNormalBorder}"/>
                        <Setter Property="BorderThickness" Value="1"/>
                        <Setter Property="Foreground" Value="{DynamicResource {x:Static SystemColors.ControlTextBrushKey}}"/>
                        <Setter Property="HorizontalContentAlignment" Value="Center"/>
                        <Setter Property="VerticalContentAlignment" Value="Center"/>
                        <Setter Property="Padding" Value="1"/>
                        <Setter Property="Template">
                            <Setter.Value>

                                <ControlTemplate TargetType="{x:Type local:FileButton}">
                                    <Grid x:Name="main" MinHeight="38" MaxHeight="38">

                                        <Grid Margin="4,0" Name="DisplayMain">
                                            <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
                                                <ColumnDefinition Width="Auto"/>
                                                <ColumnDefinition/>
                                            </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
                                            <Grid.RowDefinitions>
                                                <RowDefinition/>
                                            </Grid.RowDefinitions>
                                            <TextBlock x:Name="fileText" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" Text="{Binding RelativeSource={RelativeSource FindAncestor, AncestorType=local:FileButton, AncestorLevel=1}, Path=FileText}" TextWrapping="NoWrap" VerticalAlignment="Top" Grid.Column="0" Margin="4,0,0,0" TextTrimming="WordEllipsis"/>
                                        </Grid>
                                    </Grid>
                                </ControlTemplate>
                            </Setter.Value>
                        </Setter>
                    </Style>

                </ControlTemplate.Resources>

                <Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot" Margin="0">
                    <local:FileButton Style="{DynamicResource GradientStyle}"/>
                </Grid>
            </ControlTemplate>
        </Setter.Value>
    </Setter>
</Style>

When I run it the only data displayed on the button is the defaulted text. Even though I know I am setting the Dependency Property. I even when as far as using the binding Path=FileText.Length in the XAML to make sure its reaching it and it is, and it displayed 0 on the button, so it seems like Im not setting the data, even when I manually create the button, and insert it into a container, it still doesnt display what I set it to. (Yes I stepped into it in the debugger to make sure)

Any ideas, its been most of the day trying to figure this out.

PLEASE HELP THANKS!

Answer 1

You don’t need to create a custom button for this. You can put any content you want inside a Button:

<Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot">
    <Button VerticalAlignment="Top" Margin="132,140,168,0" Height="54.96">
        <StackPanel>
            <Image Source="{Binding Icon}"></Image>
            <TextBlock Text="{Binding FileName}" HorizontalAlignment="Left"/>
        </StackPanel>
    </Button>
</Grid>

Where FileName is a property in a viewmodel you create, which you set to be the DataContext of your Window (or grid or button).

With this MVVM setup, when you change FileName in your code, it will automatically display it in your button.

You can still style the button any way you want.